


Coming out

by Ozpin_Lover_MP



Category: Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Bullying, Homophobia, M/M, Pre-Slash, Some Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22493770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ozpin_Lover_MP/pseuds/Ozpin_Lover_MP
Summary: Adam accidentally comes out at school. Things don't go so well, but at least his friends are there for him.
Relationships: Tommy Oliver/Adam Park
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	Coming out

Summary: The school finds out that Adam is gay. I hc that they are in college, not high school. 

… 

Adam was not an idiot. He knew that Hadley liked him. Everyone knew that Hadley liked him. She had been hanging around him all week, trying to sit with him and his friends, finding excuses to study with him or just happening to walk past Adam's classroom as he was leaving. 

Adam practically hid behind Tommy as Hadley entered the cafeteria. 

"Under the table, " Rocky whispered, "she's still coming this way, " 

Adam hid under the table, and Kat draped her coat over the end so that he couldn't be seen. 

"Why can't she just leave us alone?" Tanya asked, "Adam's already told her he's not interested, twice!" 

Hadley finally made it to the end of the queue and walked over to the power rangers. 

"Hey, guys!" She said in her overly sweet voice, "have you seen Adam? I bought some cookies for him, " 

"Sorry, we haven't seen him, " Tommy managed. 

"Totally, we haven't seen him all lunch, " Rocky piped up. "If you want, we can give him the cookies for you when we see him?" 

Hadley shook her head. "Maybe I'll just wait here with you? He's bound to show up at some point, " 

"Uh sorry, " Kat put in, "But we're actually about to leave. Why don't you go and eat with Veronica, Shawn and Rik? That's who you usually hang out with right?" 

Hadley sighed. She placed the box of cookies on the table. "Well if you see him, tell him to try one of the cookies. No one can hate strawberries and I'm determined to convince him how good they taste!" 

Tommy raised an eyebrow at the cookies. "You do know that Adam is allergic to strawberries?" 

"Nonsense! He just says that to get out of eating them!" Hadley laughed, "Anyway, I'll see you later, toodles!" 

"She's gone, " Tanya said a few moments later, lifting up Kat's coat so that Adam could climb out from under the table. 

"I swear she's trying to kill you, " Rocky said, breaking into the box of cookies. "The fuck is wrong with people, not believing in allergies?" 

Adam shrugged. "She's just ignorant- which isn't her fault. Her parent's probably don't believe in allergies or something, " 

"I just wish she'd leave us alone, " Kat sighed, taking a cookie as well, "it's not that I don't like her but she's so hard to get rid of when we need to power up, " that much was true. Last time Adam had had to go to the boy's bathroom, and then climb out of a window to escape her. 

"I straight up don't like her, " Rocky argued. 

"Rocky, " Tanya said gently, "don't be mean, " 

"I'm not being mean!" Rocky protested, "She's clingy, she doesn't respect boundaries, she never listens and when she gets angry she asks her brother to beat people up for her- which he does might I add, " 

Tommy frowned. "Rik? The quarterback? Guy who can't throw a straight punch to save his life?" 

Rocky nodded. "Problem is, the people he punches don't know how to defend from a punch either. And it's not just that; he was involved in that cyberbullying incident a few months back, and I'm pretty sure he's the one who left that nasty note in my locker after I accidentally snitched on him cheating, " 

"How do you accidentally snitch?" Tanya wondered allowed. 

"I was telling Kyle not to be upset that Rik beat him because Rik had cheated… I didn't know a teacher was walking past!" Rocky explained. "I didn't snitch on purpose."

Adam sighed. "Which is why I'm trying to let Hadley down gently. I don't want any trouble"   
.  
"By straight-up refusing to go on any dates and pretending you were interested in someone else?" Tanya asked. "She's gotta get the message soon, " 

Adam had ducked his head in embarrassment. 

"Wait, you aren't actually interested in someone else are you?" Tanya asked curiously. 

Adam couldn't help but let his eyes drift to Tommy. "Nope, " he managed, "definitely absolutely not, " 

"Well, maybe you need to let her down more… obviously?" Kat asked, "at this point, I think you've earned the right to be blunt, " 

"I don't know if I can be anymore blunt, " Adam sighed. At that moment their watches all went Beedeep beedeep beep boop. 

Tommy quickly glanced around to check that they weren't being watched. "Come in Zordon, " he whispered, turning towards the wall so that passersby wouldn't be able to lip-read him. 

"Power rangers. King Mondo has launched an attack on the Police Station. Your presence is required at once, " 

"We're on it Zordon, " Tommy nodded at the others. They all discreetly left the table and headed for the exit.

As soon as the Power Rangers were out of sight, they teleported to the Power Chamber. 

…

By the time they had finished defeating King Mondo's aptly named "Cheese monster," the school day was almost over. 

Adam had just gone to his locker to grab a few things only to find Hadley standing next to it. 

"Adam!" She said, throwing her arms around his neck. Adam quickly ducked out from her attempted hug. "Did you get my cookies?" She continued. 

Adam stared at her. "You know I'm allergic to strawberries, I've told you before, " 

"Nonsense! No one is allergic to strawberries!" Hadley cried. 

Adam couldn't help but wince at her shrill voice. 

Hadley had her arms around Adam again. "What do you say we go and watch a movie tonight? Just the two of us?" 

"Hadley, I've told you before, " Adam said, pushing her arms off him again, "I'm not interested, " 

Hadley laughed. "It's so cute when you play hard to get, " 

Adam slammed his locker shut and turned to face her properly. "I not playing hard to get!" He yelled, "I don't like you, okay?"

Hadley widened her eyes. "Nonsense, " she laughed nervously, "everyone likes me, " 

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then go on a date with someone else, " 

"But I want to be with you, " Hadley tried again, "can't you see that we'd be perfect together?" 

"No, " Adam replied bluntly, "we wouldn't, " 

Adam turned to leave, but Hadley grabbed his hand. 

"Then why have you been leading me on for the last few weeks?" 

"When have I ever given you the impression that I'm interested?" Adam asked, "I'd tried letting you down gently, but you didn't get it, I asked you to stop trying to touch me all the time, but you completely ignored me, I tried explaining that I have feelings for someone else but you ignored me again- I don't think there's anything I could have said that would make you leave me alone!" 

"But I don't understand!" Hadley cried, "It's true love! How can you not love me back! Everyone knows that when a boy and girl's eyes meet they are destined to be together forever!" 

Adam finally lost his temper. "I don't even like girls!" he yelled, "I'm gay! So leave me the fuck alone!" 

There was silence in the hallway. Heads had turned to watch the fight. 

Adam suddenly realised what he had done. Swearing under his breath, Adam grabbed his stuff and ran for it. 

… 

The only people Adam was out to was his parents. Well, his parents and his old middle-school friends, but that had gone poorly. 

And now the whole school knew that he was gay. Again. 

It wouldn't be like last time, Adam told himself, everything was going to be fine. 

Everything was not fine. The next few weeks were in fact hell. At least his friends didn't abandon him, they didn't care thank goodness, but the rest of the school… everywhere Adam went there were whispers behind his back. Walking past the boy's changing room he would get cat-called. Multiple times he found nasty notes in his schoolbag. 

Of course, Adam ignored it all. It still wasn't anything compared to what he had gone through when he was younger. And he had his friends looking out for him now. He was fine. He could deal with it. 

On Monday morning, when Adam walked into school, he couldn't help but pause in front of his locker. 

Right there, at the end of the row, in the middle of the hall where everyone could see it, someone had written a bunch of gay slurs over his locker. Mostly the f-word, with a few other obscene things thrown in. 

Adam bit his lip, ignored the laughter from some passing students, and went about finding the books he'd need for the day. 

"Man, what the hell!" Rocky exclaimed, walking up to Adam's locker. "Who did this?" 

Adam shrugged. "I don't know. I'll clean it up later, it doesn't matter, come on-" 

"No way!" Rocky put a hand on Adam's shoulder. "Adam this is horrible, we need to tell a professor, " 

"And what will they do about it?" Adam asked, slinging his backpack on, "it's fine, this is nothing. You should have seen what I had to deal with at my old school, " 

Rocky looked worried. "Well, if you're sure, " 

… 

Adam's first class was English. Although it was literature, and they were studying Shakespeare, Adam was looking forward to it. He liked writing essays, even about other people's works. 

He grinned at Tommy and Tanya, who were already at his table. Tommy was furiously scribbling his last paragraph of their most recent assignment. 

"Got the assignment done?" Tanya asked idly. 

Adam nodded. "You didn't?" 

"I forgot, " Tommy mumbled, "I was gonna do it last Thursday- but then there were the Cogs and the whole situation with the fruit- it completely slipped my mind, " 

"Fair enough, " Adam said, he quickly looked around to check no one was listening, "what with Karate and all of Ranger's stuff I'm getting a bit behind too. I stayed up till 2 am last night finishing Mr Hue's maths homework, " 

"Isn't that for Friday?" Tanya asked. 

Adam shrugged. "I have karate practice, three other assignments, and let's not forget that we're bound to get attacked at least once before now and then, " 

"Homework please, " Mrs Reece said, walking over to their desk. She gave Tommy a pointed look as he hurriedly finished off what he was writing and gave it to her. 

Adam grabbed his bag to look for his homework… only it wasn't there. At least, it wasn't in his binder. Instead, it was between his books… and someone had written "f###ing gays" in big black sharpie on the front. 

Adam froze. He couldn't hand it in like that. What if Mrs Reece thought that it was directed at her… 

"I'm really sorry Miss, I forgot it at home, " Adam managed. 

Miss Reece tutted. "Unlike you Adam. Can you get it to me by lunch?" 

Adam nodded meekly. He had a free next, so hopefully, that would be enough time to write it up again. 

"That's not like you, Adam, " Tanya whispered, "what's wrong?" 

"Nothing, " Adam tried to force a smile. 

"You know can tell us anything, " Tommy added, moving his hand to cover Adam's. 

Adam silently nodded, as Mrs Reece started the class. 

… 

Adam was absolutely not crying in frustration over this assignment. Absolutely not. His eyeballs were just sweating. 

Pausing to take a deep breath, he massaged his cramped hand. Why oh why had he decided to write five pages for this thing? He'd put so much care into it, and now he was having to cut out whole paragraphs just so that he would be able to write it up in time. 

"Adam?" 

Adam looked up to see Kat walking towards him. Oh hell no, he did not want one of his friends to see him crying. Not that he was crying of course. There just happened to be a few drops of water in his eyes. 

"Adam, what's wrong?" Kat asked, pulling up a chair and sitting beside him. 

Adam quickly moved to hide the defaced homework, but Kat had already seen it. 

"What is that?" She asked horrified. 

"Nothing, " Adam said too quickly, shoving it under the new pages. 

Kat pulled it straight back out. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Adam, are you being bullied?" 

"No, " Adam replied fiercely, "it's just a practical joke, " 

"A practical joke that made you cry! This is horrible!" Kat exclaimed. 

Adam shrugged. "It's fine, I just need to finish copying it out by the end of this period so that I can hand it in, " 

Kat raised her eyebrows. "How are you going to do that?" 

Adam sighed. "By cutting out huge chunks, of this work- that I put so much effort into- It's going to affect my grade-" 

"Gimme the back two pages, " Kat said. 

"Huh?" 

"The back two pages of the defaced copy. I'll copy them out whilst you continue from where you're at, " Kat explained. 

"That's very nice of you Kat, but the teacher will be able to tell it's not my handwriting, " Adam sighed. 

"Then tell her what happened! If you show the teacher the defaced copy I'm sure they'll understand, " 

Adam bit his lip. "I don't know Kat, I don't want any trouble, I would rather just pretend it never happened, " 

"And let it affect your grade?" Kat asked, "come on Adam, don't let them get the better of you, " 

Adam sighed. "Okay, " 

… 

Mrs Reece was very understanding, "why didn't you just tell me from the start?" she asked. 

Adam scuffed his shoes and looked away. This was always the worst bit. Admitting that he couldn't take care of himself. "I didn't want any trouble, " 

"Well rest assured that if only you could give me some names, we'd deal with them. We take bullying very seriously here at Angel Grove college, " 

Adam nodded. "Thank you miss, " he didn't bother mentioning Rik or Hadley. He couldn't even be sure it was them. Better to just let it slide. 

… 

Adam managed to sneak to the cantine without any trouble, and was almost at his friend's table when… some student he didn't even know hit Adam's tray with all his might, making it fall on the floor. Pasta went everywhere, and the apple rolled away. 

Suddenly, Kat was in front of Adam. 

"Pick that up!" She yelled at the guy. 

"Or what, you'll yell at me?" The guy sneered, "I'm not scared of you, princess, " 

People started to gather around, interested by the commotion. 

Rocky stood up next to Kat and punched his fist into his palm. "Pick up the tray, " he growled, glaring at the dude. 

Adam tried to grab Rocky's arm, but luckily Tanya was already there. "At least you could be a decent human being and buy him a new lunch, " 

The guy snorted. "Are you seriously defending a homo right now?" 

"What it to you?" Tommy had appeared at Adam's other side. "Why should we care if he loves boys or girls? It's none of our business and it certainly isn't any of yours, " 

"You a homo too?" the boy snarled. "I should've guessed you were all f-" 

"Why don't you just FUCK OFF!" Kat yelled. 

There was momentary silence across the entire cantine. No one had heard Kat swear before. 

There was some laughter at a few students, most likely directed at the boy who had taken a step back. He steadied himself and got into a fighting stance. "You're gonna pay for that bitch, " the boy snarled, reaching out to grab Kat. Rocky quickly moved in the way, and the boy found himself grabbing the font of Rocky's shirt instead of Kat. 

Then everything descended into chaos. Rocky punched the boy, or maybe the boy tried to punch him… it was hard to tell. In any case, now they were brawling to the sound of "Fight! fight! fight!" from onlookers. 

Adam and Tommy tried to intervene, but there was already a swarm of people in the way. 

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?" 

Oh damn. That was Mr Hazelwood. Now they were in for it. 

Mr Hazelwood made his way to the center of the crowd and dragged Rocky and the boy out. 

"What is the meaning of this?" Mr Hazelwood demanded. "You know what- I don't want to hear it! You can explain yourself to Mrs Nogard in her office!" 

Mrs Nogard was the headteacher and known for being scary. Well, they wouldn't be seeing Rocky for the rest of the day. 

"Are you okay?" Tommy turned to Adam. 

Adam nodded, wiping a stray tear off his face. 

"Really?" Tommy asked. 

"I- just- no one's ever defended me like that before, " Adam mumbled. 

"Seriously?" Tommy asked, "no one? What about Rocky and Aiesha?" 

"He didn't really need to at Canyon high. It was my previous school, where…" Adam trailed off, then smiled. "I'm just glad to have you guys. Come on, let's find Tanya and Kat so that we can finish our lunch, " 

… 

Adam had finally finished removing the graffiti, if it could be called that, from his locker. The nail polish remover that he had been using, courtesy of Kat, had started to eat away at the locker's paint but Adam didn't care. So long as the words were gone. 

Adam turned to find himself face to face with Rik, Hadley, the boy from earlier and some other kids he didn't recognise. 

"Aren't you supposed to be in detention, " Adam asked coolly. 

Rik's mate, Adam now saw that his badge said "Clawr", gave Adam a light push. It achieved nothing of course. Adam wasn't a black belt for nothing. 

Without thinking, Adam got into a fighting stance. He may not be able to morph, but if it came to it, these were idiots, and he could push through them if he had to. This was why he learnt karate in the first place after all. 

"What are you gonna do, homo?" Rinse asked, "fight us?" 

Suddenly, his friends were chanting "homo, homo, homo!" 

Adam felt his heart rate increase. This was different from fighting goons. If he hurt any of them, he'd be the one in trouble. 

"Homo! Homo! Homo!" The kids were closing in on him. 

Adam ran. 

He may have pushed a few of them over whilst running, but at this point, he didn't care. 

Adam bolted down the hall, out the glass doors, and round the corner. He kept going, running all the way across the school to the dojo. There was no practise today, so it should be empty, it should be somewhere safe for him to hide… 

"Adam?" 

Of course, Tommy would be here working out. Of course, he would. Adam couldn't get so lucky as to just have some peace. 

"Adam… are you crying?" Tommy asked worriedly. 

Adam raised a hand to his face to find that indeed, tears were flooding down his cheeks. He started to shake. He stumbled backwards against a wall and sunk to the floor. 

Oh no, he was panicking. He was actually panicking. He hadn't had a panic attack in years! This was bad, this was so bad, he was a power ranger he couldn't afford to have panic attacks! Especially not because of the likes of Rik, Rik who was turning the whole school against him, Rik who wasn't going to forget that Adam was gay; what if the bullying got so bad that he had to change schools? What if he had to leave his friends, stop being a power ranger, and start again again? He couldn't bear the thought of losing what he had here, of losing the people he had come so close to… they were a second family. What if they couldn't find a replacement ranger for him? What if him leaving the lead to the entire team falling? What if someone died because of him? Because he wasn't strong enough… 

Gradually, Adam became aware of Tommy whispering gently in his ear. 

"It's okay, " Tommy said, "you're safe here. I just need you to breathe. Can you do that for me? Just take a deep breath- it'll make you feel better, " 

Adam nodded, taking a hiccoughing breath. 

"P-panic attack, " Adam tried to explain. 

"It's okay, I know, " Tommy reassured him. Adam looked up in surprise. "One of my high school friends had them- it's not that uncommon, " 

Adam nodded, trying desperately to get a hold of himself. 

"Do you need anything? Water? Food?" Tommy asked. 

"Water please, " Adam rasped. 

Tommy turned and grabbed his water bottle from his bag and gave it to Adam. 

Adam gulped the water down desperately, wishing it could fill the hole in his chest. 

"Hug?" Tommy offered when Adam was done.

Adam nodded gratefully, sinking into Tommy's arms. 

"Can you tell me what happened?" Tommy asked after a moment. 

Adam shrugged. "It was just some idiots- nothing as bad as what people used to do when I was younger. And I know karate now- if they did try anything I'd win in a fight. I guess it's just… I don't know, it just bothers me, " 

"If they're making you feel unsafe that's not okay, " Tommy argued. "Even if it's not as bad as whatever you experienced in the past, it's still not okay, " 

"Right, " Adam sniffled. 

"Can I ask… what did happen when you were younger?" Tommy asked. 

"I mean, I was always somewhat bullied. Being the quiet Asian kid who liked art and was the teacher's pet- made me a bit of a target. But it wasn't too bad until MiddleSchool. That's when-" Adam paused, "I told my then best friend that I was gay. He flipped. Told the whole school. Left me. Made new friends. That's when it really started, " 

"I'm sorry, " Tommy whispered. 

Adam shook his head. "Don't be- I should have said something to an adult- but I was learning karate by that point and thought that I should be able to hold them off. Turns out a group of ten kids who were all bigger than me and would corner me after school was too much, " 

"It's not your fault they bullied you, " Tommy argued. 

Adam nodded. "I know, " 

They stayed like that for several minutes, the awkward hug on the floor. 

"Maybe we should stick together more for the next few weeks till they move on. If you want of course- I was just thinking being in a group makes it harder for them to pick on you-" Tommy suggested. 

Adam nodded. "I'd like that, " 

They lapsed into silence again. 

"What are your plans for this evening?" Tommy suddenly asked. 

Adam shrugged. "Homework mostly, " 

"Fancy burning off the adrenaline first?" 

Adam nodded. "Please, " 

Tommy stood up before giving Adam a hand. "I've got a spare kit in my bag if you want, it'll be a bit big but…" 

Adam nodded. "It's not gonna make much difference. I need to burn off the adrenaline but I'm so shaky I doubt I'll be much of a challenge, " 

"You say that like you haven't beaten me in every match this week, " Tommy replied. "Don't worry, it's just training anyway, " 

Adam nodded gratefully as Tommy handed him some spare clothes. 

A few minutes later Adam was back in the dojo and he and Tommy were sparring. 

Left, right, dodge, swing into a punch then roll to use the leftover momentum… This, this was a good distraction. Adam almost forgot about how upset he'd been only minutes earlier. When he was in the zone like this… everything felt so much simpler. 

Predictably, Tommy won. Adam didn't mind though. Even though once they stopped fighting all his emotions came crashing back, it wasn't as bad as before. His muscles felt steady, and although his heart was racing he didn't feel like he was about to faint. All in all, an improvement. 

"You gonna be okay to go home?" Tommy asked. 

Adam nodded. 

"You wanna meet up for coffee tomorrow morning before school?" Tommy added after a moment, "I heard Ernie got a new coffee machine, " 

Adam smiled. Even if Tommy was only giving them an excuse to walk into school together, it made him happy. Spending time with Tommy was always good. 

"I'd like that, " Adam said softly. 

"Okay well, see you tomorrow?" 

Adam needed, finally smiling. "See you tomorrow, "

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this little tibit! I'm getting back into Zeo (goodness knows why) and I wanted to write something for Adam because he's the best and I love him!!! I have another (much longer) power rangers fic planned if I ever get around to writing it.


End file.
